Tania Candiani (b. 1974) is a Mexican artist whose practice explores the expanded idea of translation through visual, sound, textual, and symbolic languages, focusing on the politics of listening to deepen understanding of the natural world.
Research is central to her work, which is site-specific and often draws on local narratives, oral traditions, and ancestral knowledge, transforming them into forms that bridge disciplines such as music, sculpture, and storytelling. Candiani’s projects are shaped by communal and affective practices, emphasizing collaboration and shared rituals.
By exploring the connections between craft, labor, and the histories of techniques and technologies, her work fosters a dialogue between sound, environment, and the interconnected web of life, with a subtle grounding in feminist ethics of care and community.
Photo: HAM/Helsinki Biennial/Maija Toivanen
Tania Candiani: Subterra (Subterranean), 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen
Tania Candiani: Subterra (Subterranean), 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / HC Photo Studio
Subterra (Subterranean), 2025
Artwork locations: Vallisaari Island
While the forces that sustain life above and below ground are often invisible to the naked eye, Tania Candiani’s Subterra focuses on these hidden networks—specifically, the underground connections within forests and the interdependencies that sustain ecosystems. The installation features a sound composition that extends beyond human perception, emphasizing the presence of non-human life rather than centring humanity.
A video work based on scans of growing roots is presented alongside live roots suspended in glass vessels, which hang like cocoons, cradling life in a state of suspended transformation. A group of glass sculptures embody a duality of fragility and resilience. Made from silica, feldspar, and other minerals, glass originates from the earth, yet its final form is shaped through an intense transformation—passing through fire to achieve its clarity and fluidity.
Tania Candiani: Sonic Seeds, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen
Sonic Seeds, 2025
Artwork locations: Vallisaari Island
Sonic Seeds is a sound instrument inspired by traditional rattles used in indigenous Mexican dances. These rattles, made from seeds and butterfly cocoons, are played in ceremonies to invoke the earth’s vitality. Their sound engages the more-than-human world, resonating with both visible and unseen life. The piece expands on the themes from Subterra, exploring underground ecosystems and their networks of communication.
The installation includes a pair of large, ear-like structures that amplify the sound of seeds and cocoons, which the audience activates by shaking, echoing the ritual movements of dancers who invoke nature through sound and gesture. The work seeks to evoke how these dances actively engage in a representation of the natural world, where movement and rhythm become an embodied dialogue with the environment. The amplifiers reference the local bat population, attuning the space to its ecological soundscape. Suspended between two trees on a pond surrounded by ancient horsetail plants, the work connects sound, movement, and material history, weaving together natural and cultural resonances.